Art & Inspiration Has the market gone crazy ?

It doesn't have to be so called rich guys. I am just a dude working a pretty fun office job. I built up my homestead from bare ground doing all the work myself with the help of friends and family. Because of our location our property values are skyrocketing. By the time we are ready to cash out there is a good chance we could be sitting on a qtr mil of equity. Not bad for a dude that bought this land for 30K barely making over minimum at the rod shop years ago.

 

The market has gone crazy, yeah. But when you see guys spending $80k+ on their brodozer tow rigs, it puts it in perspective.
Everything is crazy expensive in this hobby now. I got quoted $5k (from a reputable shop) to do a wiring harness install in my 55, and that was with me already having the harness! I'm not gonna question the shop's time and what that's worth, I'm just giving an example.

 

Same. My lake front house has jumped to almost that much in equity in the 7-8 years I've lived in it. Hopefully the market stays strong.

There's no doubt that right now the right cars are commanding some high prices. Right, wrong, or indifferent, it's just a fact. In another thread I compared it to the wood boat market, and at some point imho a lot of these cars won't be worth to young people what we think they are. Some will keep commanding large prices, but I truly feel you're seeing the same in the wood boat market right now, and the guys that really loved them are dying off. I think the same could happen with cars eventually... Doesn't seem to be yet though. Checked the price on a station wagon lately? Even the 80s/90s ones are going for large sums!

 

I keep seeing lots of deals. But I look at beaters and projects.

 

Around here I have to wonder if anyone is spending any money on old cars. A friend traded a Brookville bodied fully finished full fender 32 RP for this 40 standard about two years ago after he couldn't get a decent offer on the 32 that was/is one really nice car.

The 40 Standard is a dang nice daily driver but still take it to shows rig. An older build that is black with flames and has a presentable HAMB friendly interior in it. Not fancy not high end but presentable an it looks right. The car runs a 351 Ford and automatic and I think that is the deal killer, All those Ford in a Ford mouthers talk the talk but don't seem to have cash to buy one.
He and his wife have driven it at least a thousand miles since they have had it, and it is dead nuts reliable. It is probably too dated for local guys but you can roll into Roundup or any other Traditional rod trot and get waved right in. His last price was down to 17,500. I'm not sure what the deal is but maybe the flames are the deal killer, No trades as he moved and doesn't have garage space and has one knock it out of the park 32 that a Hamber's shop did a lot of work on.

 

Market will stay strong if interest rates stay low,especially in the states people are moving to, I invested in land and bought low to middle of the road cars or projects. Not uncommon to see 300-500% return on your money.My friends bought upper end cars,lost as much money on them as I spent on mine.I don't need to be flashy . Just want something nice to have fun.

 

My guess is this stuff will be taxed and regulated out of existence and when fuel hits 5 bucks there will be less interest. for you old geezers, remember the fuel shortage and what it did to everyone that owned a big block in the mid 70's? Remember when you could paint a car for under a hundred bucks? When I was a kid (which was a very long time ago) a guy in our neighborhood collected brass era stuff, he had a massive collection of cars and parts mostly Franklin, thinking he was going to leave his family well set when he passed, well he did pass and his family sold it all for scrap weight. Go ahead, hoard those early hemi engines, they weigh a lot

 

Flames would be a killer for me as you stated, I am a chevy fan but i could live with the ford power.

 

@Mr48chev that what I'm about, great find, some people have to look past the coupes when they want it all for cheap money.
I agree it seems a lot of guys cashing out high dollar projects, but nobody is paying those prices. Be it age, death-estate, or future-planning. A lot of those cars sit on the classifieds only to be bought cheap or get consigned by one of those "We will sell your car outfits" and they still only get about 30-40% less than they would just driving it and finding a buyer.
I would say 80-90% of those guys building that dream car to be like a Foose or a "fill in the blank___ designer custom" Are not going to get that kind money by dumping in to a project to just any shop. Even the named shop builds are sitting in the classifieds, at least monst times, they just send them to auction.

This comes back to IGNORING users with never-ending sales ads in the classifies that dont contribute to the HAMB. You wont miss them and you have less of the same to look at. Let get back to building and driving old cars.

 

Well said

 

I don’t think the price of gasoline will affect old car values , during the time frame you’re speaking of, rationing was only in the larger populated areas. Around here we’re had gas wars, each station dropping prices. Weird, huh?
Also, if you think about it, those big engine cars/trucks were daily drivers at the time. Less than 10 years old in most cases. There’s not a lot of folks running around (IMO) in their big inch or high HP 40-whatever as a DD.
My Dad bought a wrecked ‘70 Vette with BB in it, in 1970. He put the engine/tranny in his ‘57 Chevy PU. He used it back and forth to work, a few hunting trips out of state, etc until I turned 16 and got my license. (77)

Now when/if gas gets to 5 bucks a gallon, we might see less Escalades, etc on the road and back to minivans, but it most likely won’t affect old cars and hot rods

 

hey, the world is what it is - not easy to figure out the ups and downs as to what is happening today - each of us has to do what is best for us as an individual

 

Tman.. I can understand your property. I bought a new home in a growing bedroom community of SoCal Orange County in 1971. I could not afford it at $30,500 on apprentice electrician pay and we did it anyway lying on my qualification report. We never moved, never refied, never divorced, only upgraded but never added on. I slabbed the 11’ I had on the side to build 2 race cars store a camper etc.
We are approaching $1M as we are in the mid $950’s now. 5 miles from the beach and we will never sell. One race car is still on the side and our weekend cruiser has a spot in the garage next to the wife’s OT compact car. We have no stairs and at 76 both blessed not to have them. We hate Taxifornia but since we were both born here will never leave. We both have family members that made the mid 90’s and I had 3 reach 100+.... I love cars and am determined not to grow up.

 

This is a tough subject to call, on one hand, I see high buck cars that sell, even if it takes awhile. But, I also see cars sit on sites for a LONG time, never selling, regardless of the price, but I think, ultimately, we'll see our cars legislated off the roads as gross polluters. Not in our lifetime, but as the green movement marches on, demand for 32 fords will wane, as the significance of these cars becomes less and less important to people who can't identify with the history.
I related to a post I contributed to, I was stopped by a car load of chinese kids, who wanted to know where they could buy a truck like my 36, not having any idea what it actually was. Once the lesson was over, they left, totally uninterested in hot rods, too much trouble for them to bother with, uncaring about the trucks age. We love old cars for what they were, a look into our past, our own creativity, the days when hot rods were fast, when remarkable changes came about in car design, there's lots to care about.
Remember though, it was us who went out on the salt, it was us who invented stoplight to stoplight stuff, us who made horsepower, created speed parts, made cars faster on race tracks, all with our hands and minds. Now, technology has created 120 inch motors that will put a hemi to shame, the average daily will kill my 36 in terms of handling and performance, and get incredible mileage.
Personally, I think the car market will slowly devalue as we die off, these cars will become too expensive to drive and keep alive, they will have value as relics of a bygone age,(my grandpas car), but the reason I quit building is the same reason our cars are going south. Small block chevy's are, believe it or not, slowly becoming unobtainable, never mind flatheads, olds, and if you have money, you can build one.
Girls and boys, for the most part, our time has come and gone, there are times left, but the modern world is, like it or not, outpacing us and outclassing us.
Just my opinion.

 

when one considers legislative action against our vehicles over the years, we have a tendency to consider the small victories that keep folks out there, driving their stuff, to be more meaningful than they really are. I think there is a complacency that sneaks in after attempts to thwart big brother and all other political interests, appear outwardly successful. We are going to see more legislation in the next decade to shut down, ban from the road, and relegate early iron( every hot rod ever) from the highways.....for good. The climate is an issue...maybe....the climate of change, more so. The times simply march on......ageing out is a big factor, .....been discussed to death. The problem there is not losing folks in the game ,who love these cars . The problem in legislation is losing decision makers and people connected who are willing to listen when car folks plead their case. It ain't about car lovers, it's about rule makers that haven't and never will give two shits about somebodies deuce coupe. The sheer weight of too much time passing and total indifference is gonna make " how much is it worth?" and the value therein, vanish down a rabbit hole. It's a change sound in the air, I'm afraid and it's getting louder all the time.....

 

DAMM!!!! bring that down to me and I'll do it for a 1/3 of that!!!

 

^^^^
I come here to get away from this.
Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

 

I wonder if an issue with a truck like this is the philosophical difference between being an "owner" vs being a "caretaker". I'm thinking Mr. Moriarty is more of the caretaker philosophy, which is a good thing for the rest of us.

I'm guessing there are fewer caretaker types than owner types. And a truck like this needs a caretaker type more than an owner type.

 

Think there is a lot of truth here,, I go to a Cars and Coffee locally once per month,it started out with a lot of hot rods and muscle stuff.In two years time it is outnumbered by younger members with Porsche, late model Corvettes and camaro's,,,Mustangs... Those guys very seldom walk over and look at our stuff,so I agree the 32 ford demand will wane with what these people like..

 

Around here not many of our old rods are selling, but a lot of trades because they couldn't get what they wanted even at fair lowered price. Seems with so many old guys dieing off more rods are out there available, but like said here before widows can't get what they think they should. Well I am keeping my T coupe hot rod and Airflow custom no matter what happens .I love my old cars.

 

Go on ebay and do a search for a '34 Ford or something similar. Most listings are "dealers" or "consigners" who jack the price out of reality. People see these prices and get funny ideas about what they should list their rides for.

 

@VANDENPLAS , question. With the Canadian borders closed for travel, can vehicles still be brought in? I know there’s an import tax that adds to pricing, but your post got me to thinking.
If you are like a lot of folks, you want to take. Look at what you might want to buy, being you’d have to cross the border, then do a quarantine thing coming back(just assuming) that would put off many folks. Who has that much time available?


So makes me think that your prices you see in your area could be due to the “what are your other options now” pricing.

I really don’t have a clue/knowledge about it, but if you’re the only game in town, you can make up your own rules.

 

One reason most people can't find the 10-15k driver is because they are looking for a 25-30k build and finish quality driver. They see a decent driver, but want it to be more. If they would just think rationally, they would realize that they are the problem. The guy that buys that 10k driver usually spends 5k on it the first year, but he doesn't remember that, which now makes his 10k daily driver a 15k driver. Sure, sellers are guilty of over reaching, but then again, so are buyers.

 

I remember early 2000’s guy drives a stock 32 5w minus hood into Bob’s Big Boy Friday night Burbank. He had just bought it and still had the $12,000 for sale sign on the windshield. Lots of scoffing going on in the crowd - he paid too much, that’s ridiculous, I could buy one cheaper. lol So I guess in some ways it’s all relative.
With that being said I too noticed how high end stuff is well pretty high. The problem I’m running into is I can’t seem to find projects or drivers. I definitely ran into that in C1 corvette world last year but I kind of expected that with that community. Now I’m trying to find an OT 60’s anything for my teenage son and daughter and it is hard. Lots of cars in the $50k-$100k range but not too many listings for projects. Even $20k for something that may run with “minor” rust is a bit hard to take. Just my .02 cents.
Scott


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I’m NOT going to beat a guy and has family down that is in a tight spot . KARMA has a way of returning to you 10x over . I just can’t do it , sorry . Any of us have been in the tight spot a few times , and could only be one event from returning any given moment . Think about it .

 

Yep @deathrowdave takes a “special person” to do that.

 

With all that being said I see some pretty good deals on the hamb classifieds!


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Sadly, I think that's a slice of the demographics that are the future potential buyers of our hot rods...uncaring and uninterested...and that apathy will eventually determine (much lower) our car values as we all start age out .

The problem is, the younger generations are not "car crazy" ... they're "electronics crazy".

Maybe some gamer/programmer will come up with a "virtual Hot Rod Garage" (like the virtual farming and city building games) and this upcoming generations can build, race and show their virtual hot rods on their phones. So much easier...and they won't even have to leave the couch.

 

I'm already working on virtual insurance and a virtual gas station app.

 

I've been scraping the parts together for one last gasp build. I think there will always be a market famous hot rods like the Isky roadster or the Doan Spencer car or unrestored originals, realistically museums only need so many. Its like that Bob Dylan song "the times they are a changin" well they changed.